32-Year-Old Man Finally Adopted by the Mom of His Dreams (VIDEO)

If it seems weird to you that someone would get adopted at 32-years-old, you're probably a person who's grown up with parents (whether they were in your life or not). Maurice Griffin, yes, 32, did not. In the early 80s, Griffin was spotted by a couple at an orphanage near their Sacramento home. Griffin, who's biracial, was apparently smiling ear-to-ear when Lisa Godbold and her late husband saw him; and they felt that he was the perfect complement to their family, as Lisa was white, her husband was black, and their two children were biracial, as well. It seemed like fate.

"We were best friends," Griffin said of his brothers. "We'd run around, we did mischievous things and fun things. It was a good time."

But when Griffin was 13, things fell apart. He had been living with the family for four happy years, and he was two months away from being officially adopted, when a social worker visited the home and threw everyone for a loop.

See, Godbold and her husband believed in spanking. They spanked their two biological sons, but not Griffin. Griffin, however, wanted to be disciplined like the"real" children of the family -- he wanted to be spanked, too. Griffin recently told KSWB: "I wanted to be treated like a real son. Their sons got spanked and I didn't."

So, when a social worker visited the home, he told them that that was what was going to happen.

"I told her they were going to be spanking me. She told her superiors and her superiors told her I had to be taken out." And one day, taken out he was. Their family was torn apart.

Now, let me clarify here. I do NOT believe in spanking. I would never, ever in a million years spank my child. But this situation is incredibly unique.

From what I can gather, it doesn't seem like Godbold and her husband were abusing their kids. It sounds like the got a spank on the butt when they misbehaved (which, again, I am personally against) -- yet they didn't lay a hand on Griffin. They were honest about their form of discipline, and even though Maurice wanted to be spanked, they didn't. And the fact that Maurice wanted to be spanked is heartbreaking in and of itself. What child wants that? He just wanted to belong, and to feel like a "real" kid of theirs. There's so much more to this story -- it can't be cut and dried.

According to Godbold, she and her husband fought to keep Griffin, but was told she could lose her biological children, too. So Griffin was taken away and the case was closed.

But years later, the two were reunited via social media, and Griffin still wanted to be adopted to make things with the only mother he's ever known "official." The two are headed to a court in San Diego today to do so.

Of course the social workers in this situation were just doing their job. When you hear "spank", a red flag goes off. But clearly, if Griffin still wants to be adopted years and years later, there wasn't, for lack of a better word, abuse going on. Perhaps things should have been investigated further, so Griffin didn't have to spend the following years bouncing around between foster homes.

The reunion between Griffin and Lisa is incredibly touching, and you really should watch it. And it just goes to show: You're never too old to be adopted.